Part 1 - Maple joins the family

We are a mid 50s couple with an 18 year old daughter who just graduated from High School.

We were cat people for many years... many many rescues lived great lives with us. We have 5 still. But when my daughter reached high school, my stay at home mom wife wanted company and wanted a dog.  She adopted a rescue lab mix, Sarah Jane, a rescue from Tennessee, who was afraid of me. For 4 years since, only now does she like me.  And she cowers and is stuck on my wife as her rescuer.

After a year, my daughter and wife ganged up and decided Sarah Jane needed a playmate so she could learn to dog, and so Jenny joined us. Jenny is a larger boxer/pit mix, goofy and a gentle giant, and she imprinted on my daughter. She was a rehome but from a local shelter before that.

A year later I felt left out and decided I needed a dog.  I found Maple myself, a rescue from Georgia, and brought her home and cared for her to get her to imprint on me as her buddy. She is a brindle hound mix, they say maybe plott hound and I think some whippet or greyhound based on her smaller size (35 lbs) and head and ears shape.  She is a sweetie.

But she has a bad habit.

She had some food aggression when I brought her home and as she tried to find her place among 3 female dogs.  I quickly stopped it with simple routine and separating their feeding areas.  But she also had toy aggression. She steals toys, or sticks, or whatever Jenny has.

Part 2 - The incident

Maple and Jenny got into a fight in the backyard. Probably over sticks. Jenny probably had enough and snapped at Maple and Maple returned fire. I was there in seconds but they were locked on to each other.  There was a lot of blood but no serious wounds. Antibiotics and wound care healed them both.  I stepped up my training and improving Maple's behaviors and it improved a lot. There was almost no sniping by Maple for months.

But it happened again, and I was not home, and my wife is not strong enough to separate them.  Remember I said Jenny is a Boxer/Pit mix?  Well her jaws are very strong. She bit Maple's leg and it broke in 3 places into several pieces.

That was a very bad day. I thought she had to be put down.  But they set the leg and put a wrap cast on it. And said maybe there was a 50/50 chance to save the leg at best.  Pins, screws and reconstruction would be thousands of dollars, but we should wait a few days and see if it would start to heal.

The next 2 weeks were the most awful of my adult life. She was in so much pain and on so much medicine. She had to lay in a dog crate with a collar. I had to carry her everywhere, including outside to pee and poop, which she would not do until desperate.  I stood in the rain with a plastic boot on her cast holding her countless times while she just stood there limply. Then she would try to run. She just wanted to be normal again. But I had to hold her back and lift her off the ground.

And at the first opening of the cast after 5 days, the news was not good. The wounds were not healing well. It was cleaned, and the update was only 10% chance to save the leg.  I started reading about amputation, terrified, and guilty that I had not protected her, while at the same time knowing she probably caused it herself.

Thank you to Tripawds.com and the members for helping me to stop being afraid of what her life would be like after. It made it a lot easier.

2 days later, they told me we need to schedule the surgery in 2 days.  That day I took her in early, and was stunned to learn that at 3pm she was walking outside with a vet tech.  Her leg and shoulder blade were removed.

The next 5 days was even harder. I got her a soft collar - much more comfortable than the plastic one. But she had to lay still again for most of the time.  We covered her with a shirt to take off the collar for short supervised times. The staples would not all stay in place.  She yelped in pain any time she leaned or the surgery area was touched. It was so hard to pick her up without a howl of pain.

But day by day she healed. The day of her post op check and staple removal arrived. We arrived at the vet and as usual weighed her and reported it to the desk person.

"She's lost a lot of weight!" the desk person exclaimed.

How do you answer that without embarrassment?

"Ummm, she had a leg removed."

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry, I forgot!"

Weird.

Part 3 - Post Amputation

Maple's appetite and ability to move around on her own returned at about one month time from the amputation. We had to be very careful with the stairs for a week until she figured it out.

Her personality returned at about 2 months.  I was about ready to despair that she was ruined by it, but her happiness and sweetness came back.

And then at three months, a miracle occurred. She re-integrated to the pack, and began to run around like there was nothing different. In fact, she leads the the evening dash into the yard to chase the bunnies. She is faster than the other two at running.

There are only two things that have changed now for Maple:  She sometimes attempts things that are beyond her ability, turns at speed, or jumps, and she falls. I worry about her single front leg.  And as noted by others here, her stamina is greatly reduced. I can't walk her more than a half mile before she lays down and quits.  So she won't be a great hiking partner like I planned, but she adores rides in the pickup truck with me and I try to indulge her often.

The training, and careful watch continues.  I can't count the number of people who ask "did you get rid of the other dog?" or even suggesting Maple should go. Giving up is for quitters and these dogs are in their forever home, no matter what we have to do.

Oh, the best part? When she hops through the house with energy her head bobs up and down, ears flopping up and down as she runs toward you. It's so cool.